My name is Richard Sharpe, and as the 2007-2008 president of the Olson 30 Class Association, I would like to invite you to the 30 year anniversary celebration of the Olson 30 class. I sail Perfect Balance, my second Olson 30, and have spent 3 years sailing this class of boat with real enjoyment. Racing with some of you at Lake Tahoe last year was a great experience. This is still one of the best boats for the money in one design or PHRF. It doesn’t matter where you sail, Olson 30 owners are out there kicking the big boat’s butt!

This year we have an opportunity to work on rebuilding our Olson 30 fleet. The National Championship for 2008 will be held at Channel Islands Yacht Club, Oxnard California, where the event has been run before with great success. The club is planning the event as we speak. Within 6 weeks, you should receive the National Championship Brochure, detailing the event, hotels and places to stay, infrastructure etc. The club is going all out to make this an event to remember. Already the plans include “paid for” social events, beer and food, free launches, haul outs and off road trailer parking. Therefore, your costs of attendance will be free of those little “extras” that tend to creep in.

This will be a well run regatta with a professional race committee headed by an impartial “out of town PRO” and impartial US Sailing judges. There are five Olson 30’s in the Channel Islands / Ventura harbor complex already committed to race, and many more boats are expected from Southern California, from the San Francisco Bay area and Lake Tahoe, and we would love to see boats traveling from even further away. You can be assured of a very warm welcome.

Since this is a beautiful area to sail in, easy to get to, and the club does such a great job of hosting the event, we are hoping to attract at least 20 boats this year.

The board members have been in constant discussion over the past few months and need your input. I would ask all of you to send me your serious thoughts on what we need to do to get this show on the road again. I need input from ALL Olson 30 owners (whether or not you have paid your subscriptions) telling me what the O 30 class means to you and what you want done to get it going in the right direction.

I will then put forward some ideas that can be implemented as soon as possible to ensure that the O 30 class continues to grow in enthusiasm and popularity.

We need membership dues as soon as possible, not to put in the bank, but to start promoting the class and the Nationals, also to and by doing so, raise the selling price of your investment.

We need to hear from all of you, no matter what input you may want to share but above all, we need you to step up to the plate - and let’s get going!